Heavy Rotation | XLR8R + North Coast Music Festival

Heavy Rotation | XLR8R + North Coast Music Festival

Corralling our latest commentary from around the Web.

by Joshua P. Ferguson

It's been a ridiculous summer for festivals. With six total logged, attended and reviewed, North Coast Music Festival represents the grand finale. And in the midst of it all, we've been heavily invested in reviewing some great new records for XLR8R. In the latest installment of our newest regular feature, Heavy Rotation, we concentrate all of our recent scribblings from across the Internet in one easy, digestible package. Have it, friends.

Album + Single reviews | XLR8R

"These guys are the furthest thing from trend chasers—especially when the predominant style is one that peaked more than five years ago. If anything, it returns the listener to a place in time, an era when acid jazz ruled, Gilles Peterson was the epitome of cool, and electronic music was allowed to have a soft side." — Review of The Idjut Boys' Cellar Door for XLR8R

"With the second volume of what seems set to become an ongoing series from the duo's flagship label, the Modeselektor boys have compiled 18 exclusive tracks that go from bass music to techno to glitch to juke to what are essentially experimental electronic works, and they've managed to do so without the typically schizo, jarring qualities that often plague label compilations."

"From Life and Death's conception, Manfredi Romani and his label partner Greg Oreck (of New York techno duo Thugfucker) have put forth that it was their intention to revive old sounds and give them new life. Fans of Romani's most recent sample choices will surely warm to the way they've been recontextualized. On "The Outcast," Cinematic Orchestra has been wrapped snugly in a warm psychedelic house fold with dapper trio PillowTalk channeling the musical heritage of its native San Francisco on the track's vocal refrains. "

"Bookended by banners of the group's signature smiley-faced triangles set atop pedestals, Evans was a sight with her bleach-blonde, close-cropped hair, white Doc Martens, white mic and spandex yin-yang-speckled shorts. Bouncing around the stage with bird-like gestures, she asked the crowd about its fondness for aliens before the band moved into "Beam Me Up." Steeped in the day glow of neon, the crowd was obviously into it." — Coverage of YACHT for Time Out Chicago

"It was clear from chatting with the folks around me that many of those queued up were unsure of who, exactly, the Rapture is. Putting them into a musical context alongside LCD Soundsystem seemed to brighten their eyes, and once the foursome started playing, anyone on the fence planted their feet. Well, planted until songs like "Get Yourself Into It" got them doing just that. "

"Taking to the stage with his cityscape backdrop, Smith dropped the wobbly bass head nodder "Hot Like Sauce" and there was no turning back. Glow sticks began flying every which way, a dozen girls cropped up on top of shoulders and a laser and light show from the stage bathed the thousands of onlookers in every color of the rainbow. Seriously, there was not a single component on that stage that wasn't whirling, flashing or shining. "

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Stories are what inspire us. We're an outlet devoted to music, media and culture seeking out people, personas and brands worth talking about. Devoted to interesting content and the written word, we share the things that excite us and hopefully excite you, too. Let the conversation begin.